


Union Through Pain

by SilberFelx



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Insane My Unit | Byleth, Memories from alternate timelines, Mentioned Sothis (Fire Emblem), Not for Byleth, Recovered Memories, no beta we die like Glenn, timeloop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:15:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 16,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21630748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilberFelx/pseuds/SilberFelx
Summary: After seeing all their students die countless times and realising the futility of their actions, Byleth finally snaps. They will teach the children the pain they had to go through, if they want to or not.aka Dimitri, Edelgard, and Claude only get their shit together when it's hurting the player
Relationships: Black Eagles Students & Edelgard von Hresvelg, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Blue Lions Students, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Edelgard von Hresvelg & Claude von Riegan, Golden Deer Students & Claude von Riegan
Comments: 103
Kudos: 224





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> Another AU I'm starting to write before even posting the second chapter of the first one. You can't stop me.

It had been a curious day so far.

With Claude ruining her plans of getting the other two houseleaders killed before the school year even started, she wasn't sure what she'd expected going forward, but finding the Blade Breaker hidden away in a remote village certainly hadn't been on her mind.

And to find out he had a kid was an interesting surprise, to say the least.

Now Edelgard was fighting the bandits together with Dimitri, Claude, and the enigmatic mercenary. Even then, she couldn't fully concentrate on the battle, the gears in her head turning at lightning speed to figure out what to make of this. Especially what to think of Jeralt's kid, who vanished between a small forest, the light of the rising sun reflecting off their blade as it elegantly cut through the air as well as an enemy's throat with no effort at all.

Claude and Dimitri were out of sight too, which she was thankful for. Now that she had slain the first wave of foes, she could set her mind on forming a new plan. Although scheming was supposedly Claude's specialty, she had enough experience with less than ideal situations to know how to make the best out of them.

It had probably only been a few seconds she had stood still before a blood-curdling scream interrupted her train of thought. Irritating, to say the least, as she hadn't given any mind to the previous moans of pain or even death. But this was different.

It had been Dimitri's voice, and as much as Edelgard hoped it was just the sound of him being defeated by a bandit, she knew with absolute certainty this was different. The scream sounded with frustration, sorrow, and fear, but instead of pain, there was something else she couldn't quite put her finger on.

A moment of hesitation made her react a little to late to an incoming attack, the bandit's sword scraping her right cheek before she violently rammed the axe between his legs and then in his head. She hissed, not because of the wound, which she casually ignored, but because of her own incompetence. Concentration was key on the battlefield and she should know it.

That still didn't protect her from shaking a little when a low whisper reached her ears, followed by almost silent weeping. Claude was crying.

That just didn't make sense. Edelgard knew she wasn't perfect at reading people, and Claude didn't exactly make it any easier, but if there had been one thing certain about him, it was that he didn't cry. The thought of it just wouldn't work.

Yet here she was, trying to form a new plan while surviving the attack, only to get irritated by the two people she wanted to get killed. A shiver ran through her, and she readied herself for anything that might come her way.

And just as she did, the Blade Breaker's kid came out from the bushes, rushing towards her at an inhuman speed, their bloodied blade aiming for her stomach. Immediately, she held her axe before her to protect her torso, only for them to drop the sword in the very last moment and slapping their palm against her forehead.

To her surprise, it didn't hurt at all; instead, she felt a warmth course through her body, like getting back something important you had lost for ages. However, when that feeling reached her mind, a sudden pain cut through her, slitting her throat, cracking her head, piercing her heart, and she felt a single tear burn on her open wound as she let out the loudest silent scream in her life.

Everything went black.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The new professor wasn't a trustworthy person in Dedue's eyes. They did bring back His Highness, which he was or course thankful for, but it had been three days since Dimitri and the other two houseleaders were brought back to the monastery, and all of them were still unconscious, seemingly fighting unescapable nightmares in their coma.

Despite this, they for some reason had the complete trust and support of the archbishop, who now walked the monastery's halls with the brightest and most sincere smile he had ever seen from her.

It made him unreasonably uncomfortable.

Because of the recent events, he surprisingly had Hubert, the servant of Edelgard, come to talk to him, which wasn't something he had ever expected to happen. The princess' underling looked very tired, but there was something burning in his eyes nonetheless. Dedue probably looked the same to him, if he thought about it.

They talked about what happened and agreed upon notifying the other in case their liege woke up, of course only after checking if everything was alright. They also tried asking Hilda to do the same, but the pink-haired girl didn't exactly seem to enjoy the two coming up to her, if her scared scream and slamming the door in their faces was anything to go off.

Now he sat in His Highness' room again, checking his temperature and hesitantly trying to soothe him somehow. Just when he stood up to go and get a new wet cloth for Dimitri, a quiet, rough voice reached his ears.

"Dedue...?"

He immediately turned around, only to see his lord look at him with a wild mix of every possible emotion and more. His eyes then darted around the room, the storm in his eyes only getting stronger and more confusing. Right as Dedue was about to rush towards him and thank whoever saved Dimitri a thousand times, he returned his gaze to him, only determination left after the storm calmed down.

"I need to speak to Claude and Edelgard."


	2. An Unusual Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hubert is confused, and so are Dimitri and Dedue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploads probably won't be frequent, but I'll try to not get too lazy with it

This situation was nothing but a long headache for him.

When Dedue came into the room supporting a clearly exhausted Dimitri, Hubert had bombarded him with questions, none of which got any answers. Apparently, Dedue had as much clues to the situation as him.

Dimitri wasn't much of a help either, as all he did so far is hesitantly stare at Lady Edelgard, with eyes full of opposing emotions. They spoke of fear, desiring closeness, betrayal and trust, determination and uncertainty, but most of all of pain, a pain that seemed far older than even the church itself.

Hubert only barely managed to hold himself back from pushing Dimitri away from the still unconscious princess and instead just uttered a warning in the sharpest tone he could muster up in his less than ideal condition. Resulting in a glare from Dedue, not that he'd care about that.

Just as Dimitri managed a sudden movement towards Edelgard, with Hubert instantly preparing a spell just in case, the house leader of the Golden Deer suddenly burst into the room, then stumbled and planted his face into the wooden ground.

"I'm fine", he said, but he didn't look fine, and Hubert didn't give a damn either way. Why were these two awake while Edelgard was still trapped in a seemingly endless nightmare?

When he raised his head, however, he caught Hubert's attention. Normally, Claude was a master at hiding his true feelings and showed noone what exactly he was scheming, but now his eyes had the same sort of tempest in them as Dimitri's. Far weaker, but still very noticable, and very unlike him.

Now that he seemed useful to him, Hubert helped him get up. However, Dimitri was the first to reach out to him verbally.

"Claude, look at me."

He did, and although neither Hubert nor Dedue seemed to have an idea as to what was going on, the other two communicated without words and simultaneously nodded.

"You too, then."

"Yep, looks like it."

"What is going on."

Claude and Dimitri apparently only now noticed that they were not alone, and Hubert took the chance to further attack them with questions.

"Why are both of you here? What happened to you and Lady Edelgard? And are you at fault in any way, shape or form?"

Dedue frowned more than he already did and stepped between them while Hubert conjured a strong spell.

The two house leaders exchanged a concerned look.

"We will explain, but only if you stop that spell you have going on there", Claude said. Hubert didn't immediately react, but knowing that he wasn't quite fit enough to take both of them and Dedue on, he finally put his hands down and stared at them expectantly.

Dimitri nodded towards Dedue who relaxed as well, taking on a similarly curious look. However, his liege wasn't exactly the best with words and seemed to only barely hold back a mental breakdown, which resulted in him looking to the brown-haired teen for help, who in turn put on his usual easy-going smile, though not being able to mask the visible distraught and emotional confused state he was in. Claude shot a glance to Edelgard, probably to make sure Hubert wouldn't run off during the explanation, as he wasn't exactly known for leaving her alone with potential threats.

"It's probably teach... the new professor who's responsible for this. You know, Captain Jeralt's kid."

While Hubert was listening, he already made a list of torture methods fitting for them.

"I have no idea how, but it feels like... they gave me my memories back? But they're memories of things that haven't even happened yet."

Did Dedue frown? It was hard to tell whether it just was his resting face or not. Regardless, he clearly seemed curious.

"What do these memories consist of?"

The lordlings shared a hesitant look.

"I don't think this is the right time or place to talk about it", Dimitri said slowly. Hubert grimaced.

"My apologies, but I do believe this knowledge might prove to be very helpful. Also, have you any idea what it took for you to wake up? I'm guessing you already know you've been unconscious for days, and the state Lady Edelgard is in is very concerning to me."

Just as he finished talking, the girl let out a soft whimper, filled with an ancient kind of pain. What exactly she said wasn't discernable to him, but both Claude and Dimitri immediately froze up and seemingly fought strong nausea.

"You Highness, are you alright?", Dedue asked. He immediately looked around for something to help Dimitri, but Hubert was faster, shoved a bucket into his hands and the three now unneeded visitors out of the room.

When he prepared a new wet cloth, the Adrestian princess whispered something again, this time far more audible.

"I wanted... to walk with you..."

He didn't know why, but Hubert couldn't get this sentence out of his head for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! As usual, criticism is welcome, especially if I made any grammatical mistakes or something.


	3. Wartorn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting, maybe even a reunion, in the middle of the night.

Training had become even more interesting all of a sudden.

It had almost been a week since the Blade Breaker's kid had shown up with all of the lordlings in tow. That alone made Felix very interested in them, but when he stood up extra early for some additional training this morning, he observed the boar prince and the Riegan kid go at it with an intensity he hadn't seen before.

Both of them were still not completely well again and stumbled a few times, and after Dimitri did a flip through the air while launching his lance to obliterate the straw puppet, he used the bucket Dedue brought with him, but the technique was so... different and so much stronger than how they moved before.

Maybe he should ask the mercenary for this kind of coma as well.

What surprised Felix the most, however, was Edelgard. When she suddenly appeared, she looked like she just woke up from her sleep a few minutes prior (and from what he heard, that might actually be accurate). She just glanced at Dimitri and Claude before going to town on another target, even with Hubert strongly advising against it.

She was moving different as well, her elegant movement still there, but the amount of brute force at her disposal was more visible than ever before. Nonetheless, he felt something in the princess had broken.

This went on for a while, and right as he was about to set out on a quest to find Byleth or whatever their name was, the boar opened his mouth.

"El..."

Well, this was new.

Normally Felix wasn't one to eavesdrop, but on the off chance he would train to become an assassin, might as well, right?

Plus, he really wanted to know what that strange kid had done to them so that they ended up like this.

The answer to that question wasn't about to be told to him though.

Edelgard's lilac eyes had lost their life. Even in the shimmering light of the torches, they lacked the shine they always had, and looked more like grey, old ash. The flame had gone out.

"I'm sorry, Dimitri", she croaked, her voice and the weak smile on her face sending shivers down Felix' spine, and he didn't seem to be the only one affected.

Claude slowly took in every detail of her, and the gears in his head were turning as usual, though he seemed to hold knowledge far from what he should.

It was silent for a moment. 

Then, all of a sudden, Edelgard swung her axe at Dimitri. Felix was about to jump out and interrupt, but before he even knew it, it was already over.

In the last possible moment, she had twisted her axe in a way that the boar would feel pain from the attack, but aside from a bruise, it wouldn't do anything. The prince himself similarly responded with a painful, but otherwise not very dangerous attack. Claude held his bow in the direction of the two retainers, two arrows nocked and clearly showing he wasn't up for playing games right now.

The girl's face showed no emotion.

"You two are cruel monsters", she said with a hollow voice, "making me live on like this."

Then she broke down. An inhuman scream tore through the night and tears wouldn't stop falling.

Felix, Dedue, and Hubert just stood there, extremely confused as to what was going on. But they didn't do anything, flabbergastered as they were, so Dimitri allowed himself to kneel down before his rival house leader and, after a moment of hesitation, pulled her into a hug.

Claude kicked the weapons aside to calm the lordlings' loyal dogs, but they still moved ever so slightly too much. It was at that moment Felix decided not to become an assassin, stepping forward and swiftly coming to a halt before the two, pointing his moonlit sword at them.

The Golden Deer-leader gave a wry smile, nodding before dropping his own weapon and joining Edelgard and Dimitri, while the other three stood in a stalemate.

Felix didn't want to admit it, but he felt like joining the hug as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you did, please leave a comment about what you liked and what I could've done better, or just how you feel after reading this, anything will raise my motivation by 100!


	4. A Dance of Death and Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth is allowed to demonstrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't think I'd be able to write more than a thousand words in a single chapter, but then this happens. Hope you enjoy the 'longer' chapter

Everything in her screamed that something was very wrong with this situation.

Bernadetta didn’t know when it started, but all that had recently happened just felt all but right. Jeritza becoming the Black Eagles’ professor, the future heirs to the three nations of Fódlan arriving at the monastery unconscious, the way they moved after waking up again…

The look in Edelgard’s eyes.

It reminded her of what she might have become if she hadn’t been brought here. Broken, powerless, without any will to live on. She wanted to help, but neither knew how nor could she bear Hubert’s even colder eyes. A feeling of guilt crept up her spine.

Focusing back on what was currently happening, she shrank a bit, being trapped between all of the other students, and on the training grounds no less. Byleth Eisner, the most recent addition to the Knights of Seiros and the one to bring back Edelgard in her new state, stood before them on a podium, the Archbishop Rhea just a bit behind them, followed by a few of the knights.

Seeing Alois there helped, but only a little; after all, Catherine, Byleth, and Lady Rhea were some of the most terrifying people she knew of, and with all the people around, she could’t help but feel as though every single one of them was staring at her.

Then, the mercenary opened their mouth.

The sound reaching her ears was far from what she expected. Instead of a rough, deep, and imposing voice, it was more smooth and warm, not exactly fitting a mercenary known as the Ashen Demon. Maybe it was a bit too warm, and when Bernadetta looked up at them, their eyes and smile seemed a little too wide as well. And she was pretty sure this time it wasn’t her paranoia speaking. Was it?

“I’ve gathered all of you here today”, they began, “to get to know you, as I’ll help out as a battle instructor in the future.”

A murmur rang through the crowd, and even from behind, Bernadetta could see Claude and Dimitri stiffening.

“Lady Rhea already spoke to your tutors about everything, so don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

Their way of words was eerily similar to that of the Archbishop, she thought. Not a good sign.

“I’ll come down there and greet you individually in a minute, but before that, I- oh?” The surprise in their voice was the first genuine sounding emotion heard from them, and it just made Bernadetta even more anxious, the sight of what was going on not helping in the slightest.

The normally rivalling house-leaders stepped forward and stood in a tight line in front of the other students, a reverent, scared, hurt, and a little determined look on their faces. Even Edelgard’s eyes showed a small spark of what they used to be.

Rhea’s face twisted into an expression of disappointment, but before she could say anything, Byleth held up a hand and Rhea stopped. Now even the knights became nervous. Commanding the church’s leader herself? Who was this person?

“Pray tell, what do you want from me?”

It felt nothing like a question, more like stating obvious facts. The three remained silent, apparently feeling they’d vomit if they opened their mouths. After a moment that felt like decades, leaving Bernadetta with hair that felt grey, they stepped forward, cutting Byleth’s way to the students off.

This only managed to draw an even wider smile from them and they pulled their sword from it’s sheath, kicking the latter aside and pointing the blade forward. In response, an axe, a lance, and a bow were taken from the respective backs in a synchronized way, as if they had practiced it for ages.

“I guess this will be a fine opportunity to show you what I can teach.”

\-----------------------------------------------------

The tension was close to unbearable.

It had only taken a few moments for the podium to disappear and the spectators to take a place to watch. Bernadetta really didn’t like where this was going, and didn’t enjoy watching fights like these anyway, but she knew this was something important.

“Is everyone ready?” Alois asked.

Byleth smiled. “You three better fight with the intent to kill me, as I will do the same.”

“Go!”

The fighting instructor really meant what they said. They shot ahead with inhuman speed and swung the sword downwards with the power of an axe, aiming for Edelgard’s head. She held up her weapon in turn to block the oncoming strike.

When Bernadetta heard the sound of clashing metal, Byleth had already started their next attack, ramming the pommel between the girl’s ribs. She didn’t show it, but from the ugly cracking sounds, a few of them broke, and though she managed to stand up again after being pushed back, Byleth’s next strike would have pierced her heart. She somehow looked fine with it.

However, an arrow flew between them, nearly hitting the attacker’s eye, and temporarily, their victim was safe – or, at least, not yet dead. Panicked, Bernadetta looked to Rhea, who already got bombarded with words from concerned students and knights, but didn’t let a single one of them get to her.

Returning her view to the fight, she could only watch as every blow princess and prince threw at Byleth simply was parried. It was like the three had known each other for centuries with how well they appeared to recognize how the others fought. Claude stood on the side, trying to find an opportunity to get in an arrow or two, and for a moment it looked good with the other two stepping aside for less than a second and he let go of the string.

But this had been exactly what Byleth had been waiting for. They sprinted ahead and simply cut the arrow in two in the middle of the air, then kicked Claude in the chest full force, making him join the club of broken ribs. Standing on top of him, they grinned, whispering something along the lines of “take out the weak sniper first” before thrusting their blade down into his throat.

With a desperate scream, Dimitri threw his lance at Byleth’s back, only for it to be caught and thrown back at him, piercing his upper arm. Still, Claude was saved, as the tip of the sword only pinched him, not yet cutting through the skin.

If possible, Edelgard looked even more broken than before, betrayal in her eyes visible clear as day to everyone. None of them were in fighting condition anymore either, so Byleth grinned at the students.

“Looks like that’s it for them.”

Before anyone realized, the mercenary ran through the spectator ranks, touching everyone on the forehead, only for the victims to let out screams of pain and agony right after. Bernadetta didn’t have a chance to flee before she was hit as well.

And all the memories came flooding back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this is okay, I'm not that great at writing fightscenes...  
> Although I can't really write well in English at all lol
> 
> If you enjoyed, leave a comment to keep me motivated!


	5. Emotions, Strength, and Voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A broken heart, a pierced limb, a crushed throat.
> 
> Their weapons are now useless.

There was not a single inch of his body that didn’t feel like it was burning in the eternal flames of Ailell. Even the normally warm healing magic of Manuela now was like needles driving deeper and deeper into his burnt flesh.

Thinking about what had happened was just as painful, but Dimitri still tried his very best. Because he knew that the beast he had encountered on the training grounds earlier this day was not what it seemed to be.

Pretty ironic coming from him.

Still, after he had found himself being knocked out by the mercenary during the bandit attack, he lived through an endless amount of lives he had lead at some point in the future-past. And always, they were there, fighting at the side of the students, sometimes even at Dimitri’s side, attacking the ones on the opposite side. But even then, they always hurt. They felt the pain of everyone.

They were a kind being, and Dimitri knew it, even when they fought alongside Edelgard.

The thought of his step-sister just made his head ache even more.

Concentrate, he told himself, and put everything he had gathered from these memories together. First of all, the professor had the ability to manipulate time, winding it back whenever something bad happened, and they used this from the start of the very first life they had lived. He saw all the things that went wrong just disappear and play out similarly, but this time in the professor’s favor.

Well, most of it did. Some constants never changed.

Fighting Lonato, the Death Knight, Miklan. Flayn’s disappearance, the Remire village disaster, Jeralt’s death, the blessing of the goddess Sothis…

The start of a war.

If anything, Dimitri was impressed Byleth had been able to live through all of it this long before finally snapping. He knew very well what seeing everyone he loved die before his very own eyes was like, but to experience it this often? He didn’t try counting, but if he had to guess, it had been well over five thousand lives so far.

At first he asked himself why Byleth never told him, or even Claude or Edelgard what had happened to them. But after digging through some memories, he found that they had, only to get ridiculed, or even if it did work, nothing changed in the end. The flow of time always found it’s way back to the original course.

He bit his lower lip while Manuela was bandaging his arm. Now it was all over. They had given all of them the ability to see the Divine Pulse and remember what transpired in these moments, which is why he knew that he died on the training grounds. Edelgard and Claude did too. And the other students, even the knights.

Byleth slaughtered them all. Hundreds of times.

He groaned as the ghosts began chanting loudly, demanding to kill everyone, if only to free them from this hell. It had only gotten worse since he woke up, as they were now joined with the faces of all the other students and knights, even though they still lived. And living through all of the times he had died on the battlefield, blindly chasing Edelgard with nothing but hate filling his heart, was not helping either.

Dimitri tried to relax as the songstress finished his bandaging. He could see her lower lip trembling, but whether it was fear, anger, or sadness, he could not tell.

But what he knew was that he wanted to save the professor from this. After all, he was not a very small part of who was to blame.

And saving the professor started with saving his sister.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Claude paced back and forth in his room, fingers drumming against his neck in all the places he had been cut in earlier today. Though it didn’t really happen. But then again, he knew he died.

Figuring this out completely was stupidly difficult, even for him, although he searched ever deeper for the truth. But he had collected some pieces of the puzzle he was certain only he and the professor had.

Well, and Rhea, but if Claude had to guess, she was spared from the memory rush, as he titled it. Byleth had probably acted like the reincarnation process for Sothis worked out to manipulate the head of the church.

He put on a smile from his collection of fake smiles. “Not bad, Teach. You learned something from me.”

Aside from him, Dimitri, and Edelgard, the students and some of the knights were in a coma, just like him after he met the professor. And he didn’t like admitting it, but he had no idea how they would react.

Claude was afraid.

He hated it, but it was what it was. He was scared of Bernadetta locking her door forever and starving in her room, he was scared of Marianne using the rope he had found in her room, he was scared of Felix going on a rampage only to get himself killed. Hell, he was even scared of Dimitri and Edelgard doing something stupid.

Letting out a sigh, he asked when he had allowed himself to become this attached.

His mind was racing with ideas of what to do next, but really, there was only one option right now. And it was talking to the other two house leaders.

Another mask in the form of a smile on his face, he exited his room, nervously rubbing his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! As usual, leave a comment if you want the next chapter to be released soon!


	6. Burning Blood and Ice-Cold Blades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two fathers who just want the best for their children.

He really wanted to rip all this paperwork to shreds, tell Rhea she’d gone mad, and leave this place behind for good.

Whoever this mysterious Byleth person was, so far they did nothing but cause trouble. They literally almost killed Claude, not to mention heavily wounding both Dimitri and Edelgard as well. And then Rhea was the only one who came out of the training grounds both unharmed and conscious.

Seteth furrowed his brows as he read the list of people falling ‘asleep’ into nightmares that tortured them more than any instrument designed for the very purpose he had ever seen could, and he had seen some extremely messed up ones.

And when he asked Rhea about it, all she said was that Byleth was showing them the truth.

A long sigh escaped him and he was pretty sure the list of people not affected would be much shorter. Then someone knocked on the door.

He didn’t expect anyone, especially after what happened recently.

“Come in.”

It was certainly a surprise when the so-called Blade Breaker himself, the father of Byleth, entered the room. Seteth didn’t know what expression he expected to see on his face, but confusion and grief weren’t on the list.

“May I sit?”

That snapped the Archbishop’s advisor out of his befuddlement and he nodded quickly, gesturing towards a chair at a moderate distance from his desk.

“Please, help yourself.”

“Thanks.”

Silence. Jeralt looked around the room, scanning it with his eyes for every little detail, absent-mindedly playing with the dagger at his side.

“So then, what brings you here?”

The knight captain sighed and returned his gaze to the green-haired man.

“I hoped to get some advice from you. You know, as a fellow father.”

Seteth in turn hoped his face wasn’t showing the thoughts racing through his brain at maximum speed. How did he know? A lucky guess? A trick to see if he would react? Or was his and Flayn’s secret out in the open like that?

“Father?” he began. “I don’t-“

“I know you’re only her brother, but I can see the way you interact with her.” Jeralt smiled weakly. “You are a father figure to Flayn, and a good one at that. She may think you’re overprotective, but she still loves you. Like family should.” His face fell into a frown. “I feel like I’ve failed mine.”

Although Seteth didn’t want to let the compliments get to him, he became a little proud when hearing this praise. And when the ex-mercenary told him his worries, he couldn’t help but care for the man. After all, he had experienced similar feelings in the past.

“So the way Byleth behaves now is out of the ordinary?”

“It’s almost the complete opposite.”

This was a relief, as he wasn’t sure how to help fix something that had always been broken. He leaned back in his chair.

“Tell me about them.”

And Jeralt began telling the story of him and Byleth.

\----------------------------------------------------

“And this morning…” The Blade Breaker sighed as he recalled today’s events.

He stood in front of his kid’s door, contemplating what to say to them, when Byleth opened and told him to come in. It was uncomfortable, but he couldn’t exactly say no. So he entered and sat down on the chair at their desk, briefly looking over the latter to check for anything unusual, but it was all just normal, boring lesson plans.

Byleth sat down on their bed, looking at him expectantly, their gaze simultaneously piercing his defenses and his heart. He tried swallowing the lump in his throat preventing him from talking, but it didn’t work. Even though they never showed much emotion anyway, it felt like their face was even colder today, and sharp as a knife that could hurt him at any given moment, if they just wanted to.

“Why are you here, father?”

Father. This word alone burned itself into his mind. How long had it been since Byleth had called him that? Usually, if anything, they called him dad. And even just Jeralt felt far warmer than simply father.

He bit his lower lip and evaded their gaze, turning away and pretending to take in the sight of their room. Blazing heat and freezing cold shot through his body again and again, his mind racing to find just a single word he could say. The air got thicker, making it harder to breathe, and the weight of the ceiling was about to crush him. The usually composed, proud leader felt control slipping away from him, and all of a sudden, he was alone in a world of accusing eyes staring right through him, looking at the darkness beneath. Then, a voice called out to him.

“If you have nothing to say, just leave.”

Byleth’s mask was broken, unfiltered rage and sorrow seeping through the cracks. With clenched teeth, a sword pointed at him and fiery tears slowly making their way down the normally stone-cold face, they spit out:

“You always do anyway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not very used to writing angst, but I'm gonna try my Sothis damn best to make it painful.
> 
> Also, I wonder how edgy I can make this.
> 
> If you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a comment as usual!


	7. Rib-Shattering Hugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of the students desperately need counselling. The problem is just that the counsellors need it as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: suicide

A sword through the heart, a blade in the throat, a skull crushed barehandedly.

Dying wasn’t fun.

Hilda shot up in her bed, desperately gasping for any air she could get. The feeling of Byleth strangling her at the training grounds was still fresh in her mind and she almost hyperventilated, but barely managed to calm herself somewhat.

Not very much though, as she instantly tried standing up to rush to the other students to make sure they were alright, not thinking about her condition or faking laziness as always. The adrenaline rush was enough to keep her on her feet, but she couldn’t move faster than a slow walk. Her heartbeat boomed so loudly in her ears that she didn’t notice the absence of any sound in the middle of the day.

Then, a desperate scream rang through the ominous silence.

Tears slowly made their way down Hilda’s face when she recognized the scream as the same one she heard just in the last timeline – Dorothea’s usually beautiful voice being distorted to a sound of nothing but pain and agony while the flames slowly melted her soft skin away, leaving the pink-haired girl staring in fear as a bloody, burnt hand with muscles ripping apart in front of her reached out for anyone to help. And right when she finally managed to move her own hand towards her, it was cut off and someone snapped her neck from behind.

She barely managed to open a window before leaning down and revisiting her breakfast from today. Or was it yesterday? The day before?

Shuddering, she collapsed beneath the window before completely breaking down, crying and sobbing violently. Her body didn’t respond to her attempts to move, but her mind was racing. How would the others react to this? Would there be anyone who was optimistic enough to keep going despite all of this? And what would the mentally weakest do?

Goddess, Marianne and Bernadetta… They needed help. The others did too, of course, but Hilda could only imagine how bad those two would take it. She had to calm and reassure them, make sure they wouldn’t end up like in some other timelines, where they-

“Hilda?”

She winced, not expecting anyone to be mentally strong enough to aid her despite living through all this themselves. But in the next moment, a small smirk made it’s way onto her face. Of course it was him.

“You look like you need help.” Smiling his big, stupid, warm and calming smile, Raphael held his hand out to her. Thankful, she grabbed it and carefully got off the ground.

“Thanks, big guy. I…“ Nausea overcame her and she sort of just fell against him. Then she found herself hugging the bear of a young man, pressing her face into his stomach like it was a pillow. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable though, so she let go again.

“Sorry about that.”

Before she could speak further, Hilda found herself almost being crushed by a hug that could pass as an attack with how strong it was.

“If you’re feeling down, I’ll just squeeze the sadness out of you!” Raphael cheerily declared.

“Thank you, really, but if you keep this up my life is gonna be squeezed out of me as well.” That made him immediately tone down the strength to a survivable degree, and she let herself go for a moment. Sometimes, a hug really is all you need.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later, the two stood in front of the door to Marianne’s room. Raphael had told Hilda how he had experienced the same sort of flashbacks, but was able to stay positive nonetheless because “Right now, everyone’s alive, right?”

As unaware as he sometimes seemed to be, he often had the right idea about things. Hilda was able to cheer up a little because of this as well, and was all the more determined to go all out this time – at least in terms of helping her friends. She knew that despite telling everyone she wasn’t one to sacrifice herself for others, in the end she still wound up standing her ground until the very end, and just this once, she would embrace it.

Just like she expected, no one answered her knock. She grabbed the spare key Marianne had given her a few days after school started, as she didn’t know anyone else she could trust enough to look after her in case of an emergency, and unlocked the room.

It looked like on any other day. Just a normal room in the dorms.

Just that Marianne was laying in her bed, eyes open wide, staring at the ceiling and not moving an inch.

"Hey, Marianne..." Hilda began, signaling Raphael to maybe not come rushing in with his loud voice. She tried a soft approach.

No answer, but the blue-haired girl suddenly began wildly flailing her head in search of the speaking person. Hilda furrowed her brows and came closer, only to see her friend gagged and tied to the bed. After simply standing there in shock for a second, she immediately began setting her free.

"Who in the- Marianne, who did this to you!?"

Finally everything was gone and after some heavy coughing, she got "Professor" out between two big breaths. Hilda could only stare at her blankly as Raphael slowly made his way to them.

"Why would they do that?" he asked. "So far they never did something like this."

Marianne shuddered.

"They said it was to protect me." She nibbled on her lower lip. "That they were afraid I might do something... unnecessary, as Byleth called it, if I was left alone. But I can't remember doing something like that this time around, so I don't know why they thought it'd be necessary... After all, they killed us before, right?"

If Hilda hadn't emptied her stomach earlier, she might have done it now; being reminded of all the times she found Marianne hanging in her room with dead, empty eyes looking into hers accusingly while wearing a twisted, saddened smile on her face was a heavy blow, and the strangely disgusting and perverted way this Byleth showed their care didn't help in the slightest.

Marianne slowly got up and exited the room, with Hilda supporting her. The trio made their way to Bernadetta, only to discover her being trapped as well - outside her room though, so she wouldn't fully transform into a hermit.

They wondered to what lengths Byleth would be going in the future to ensure their safety, or however they interpreted these acts of 'kindness'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big Bro Raph to the rescue.
> 
> Sorry this one took a bit longer, I was away over the weekend, but I'm extremely glad so many people are enjoying the story so far! I really hope I'll make the story as good as it should be to deserve this attention.
> 
> With that said, leave a comment as usual and see you soon!


	8. Fishy History Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Results of old memories being returned.
> 
> Some negative, others being immediately getting S rank in White Magic.

The monastery was in a state of pure chaos.

All of the people fallen unconscious had woken up again. Simultaneously. And everyone was behaving in a very strange way.

Flayn could only sigh while trying to fix the people in the infirmary up. Manuela wasn’t available, as she as well as Dorothea and Sylvain had used her secret stash of wine and thrown themselves at each other, just to come to a screeching halt while still trying to violently rip their clothes off only to end up as a sobbing mess. Some people like Hanneman and Linhardt had locked themselves in their room for different purposes; some just wanted time to process things, others hid away, and some researched different topics in hope of finding a way to bring the “old” Byleth back, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Not everyone was out for a peaceful solution though.

Closing her eyes to concentrate, Flayn activated her white magic to heal the wounds Felix had gotten after attacking the professor with Caspar and Leonie in tow – to “knock some sense into them” as they said. In the end, Byleth themself was the one to save the three from an unfortunate death by execution at the hands of Rhea.

On one hand, this made the Nabatean girl confident they wouldn’t hurt their students if they had any other choice, but on the other she had to wonder what exactly they did to them that would result in all these reactions, some of which clearly meant to harm them. Also, what was Rhea thinking about all of this, and why was she being so overprotective?

Shaking her head, Flayn focused back on her work, which she had thankfully got some help for. Mercedes’ skills as a healer amazed her every time she witnessed them and this was no exception, seeing how she closed a deep cut on Caspar’s arm in no time at all.

What surprised the green-haired girl was that Marianne was here as well.

She never thought she’d live to see the day that the usually self-loathing, quiet, and grieving student would stand here healing people with a kind of determination in her eyes that Flayn couldn’t help but almost feel jealous about.

With a short nod towards Mercedes, the two students of the Blue Lions and Golden Deer quickly swapped places, to ensure that the one healing someone was always the one of higher expertise in the respective case. Where they had learned this coordination, Flayn didn’t know, and the pure life energy seen in the magic was astonishing as well, even though they didn’t seem to have the full extent of power they needed to cast the spells, which resulted in amazing work, but quick exhaustion.

It went on like this for a while, but with the two other girls refining their use of magic at a speed that made things learned through decades of training look like something you can understand in a few minutes, she couldn’t hold her curiosity back forever.

“So what happened to everyone?” she said, immediately regretting the question when their faces fell into deep frowns, expressions somber and a world of grief in their eyes.

Flayn knew this expression.

It was the same expression her father had when remembering the days back in Zanado. There was some happiness to be found, but it shrunk into nothingness when looking at the shadow looming over it. The Nabatean felt thoroughly confused, not knowing what could’ve possibly been as traumatizing as the Red Canyon in the short span of their lives.

Mercedes finished healing, slowly lifting her head but her gaze remaining firm on the ground.

“It’s a very long story, but since you’re involved as well…”

While the Kingdom girl looked to Marianne, probably asking herself if she should tell this story with her around, Flayn was digging through endless amounts of memories at lightning speed, but could only get more anxious the longer she searched, coming up with nothing that might result in this apparent trauma.

“You deserve to hear it.” A soft voice made it’s way to her and she needed a moment to realize that the blue-haired girl had spoken for once. “But it’s not a pretty story. I…”

Margrave Edmund’s adoptive daughter stared at her hands for a moment, a strong shiver shaking her whole body. Mercedes looked at her worriedly and carefully stroked her back to calm her down.

“You really don’t have to tell it if you don’t-“ Flayn began, but was quickly cut off by her answer.

“I can’t run from this anymore.”

Marianne showed a brief and sad, but still beautiful smile on her face, the same flame of determination in her eyes burning ever brighter.

“And she’s not the only one who thinks so. We’re trying to fix all of this together” Mercedes suddenly continued. “I believe we can do this. At the moment we’re not a lot of people, but I’m sure we can find more who share this sentiment.”

The optimistic look from her motivated Flayn to do this – whatever this is, she realized, not knowing what all this was about yet. Mercedes could only chuckle when the girl voiced that concern.

“You’re right, I forgot. My apologies. Marianne?”

With that, the explanation began, and Flayn had to be careful not to fall off her chair when hearing some of the things that happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not that exciting, I know, but this is just sort of a chapter to set up what comes next.
> 
> I'd like to hear your guesses as to who might be members of the Fix-It group.


	9. Cutthroats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Overworking is anything but healthy, kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lived bitch.

Desperately trying to be useful was the only thing she was doing at the moment.

Annette held her head, letting her freezing palm cool her seemingly burning forehead and ease the headache a bit. But rest wasn’t something she could allow herself to get. She needed to help in any way possible, or else she’d fail everyone.

Suddenly, the door opened and she almost fell off her chair from the unexpected noise, but tried not to let anyone see that when Marianne and Mercedes came into the room with Flayn.

“Sorry for scaring you, Annie,” Mercedes teased, to which she could only sigh.

“It’s fine. But Flayn, what are you doing here?”

Taking a more focused look at the fish-lover, it was clear she had been crying. Even now that it had been a while, her eyes still looked watery and insecure. But she tried her best to hide it… which didn’t amount to much.

Sparing Flayn from having to speak, Marianne explained that they told the girl everything about what happened, and that she had decided to join forces with them to bring back the professor from the depths of hell their mind had trapped them in.

“Well, it’s good to have you on the team.” Annette smiled weakly. “I’m currently trying to put together all pieces of information we have to help us turn this around in our favor. Though we really need a tactician to make use of all this…”

“Sadly, neither Hubert nor Claude respond to my requests.” This was a different voice which turned out to be Petra’s coming from a different room of the small flat Anna told them they could use (for a price, of course) in secret (which they also had to pay Anna for). The Brigid princess had finally mostly figured out the Fódlanese language after remembering all she’d learned in other timelines, which made communication much smoother, even if most of the sayings still went over her head.

“I think Hubert doesn’t trust anyone but Edelgard after seeing all the timelines in which people left them. Not that he trusted us at any point. As for Claude, he seems to be busy trying to bring Dimitri and Edelgard closer to him and each other.”

Looking over Annette’s shoulder, Mercedes scanned the notes she took, the others slowly joining in as well, closing in on the poor Annette growing uncomfortable. And when Raphael came into the room, it was over.

“A group hug? I want to join in!”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

After miraculously surviving that near-death experience, it was back to planning. Figuring out who to bring to the party next, what never happened before that possibly might benefit them (ideally of course an alliance between the house leaders, which even Ferdinand agreed would be extremely helpful), and just generally mapping out what to do.

Then, Anna came in, looking honestly nothing short of terrified.

“Guys, you might want to see this. Not if you have a bad stomach though.”

They quickly made their way outside, using a secret path that made it look like they were just coming to the marketplace from the stables instead of a house directly at the entrance of the monastery. And the sight was certainly something to behold.

Byleth was moving as fluidly and elegantly as usual, their clothes unharmed and stain-free, their face stone-cold as usual. What clearly indicated a fight happening, however, was the blade at their side being completely red, not a single spot that wasn’t drenched in blood to be seen. And the finishing touch on this already disturbing picture was the severed head they were carrying with them.

“Wasn’t your mission this month to take out bandits?” Anna asked slowly, her voice shaking.

Annette nodded, but couldn’t answer, feeling her food and the pain of the stomach acid in the back of her throat. Ferdinand managed a short “That’s their leader”, apparently confirming what Anna had suspected.

Byleth didn't take note of any of them, walking towards the reception hall with their eyes focused on something far, far away. They seemed to be in good spirits though, as they were absent-mindedly swinging Kostas' head around by the hair.

It was not something Annette ever wanted to see again to say the least, but the grotesque scene had already burned itself into her mind. So instead, she was searching for something to distract herself with from this horror.

Then, Petra spoke up, clearly affected by the view as well, but resolve steeled enough to dismiss it for the moment.

"Do you think the professor might still be able to communicate with the Goddess?"

Everyone stared at her, especially Mercedes, Marianne, and Flayn. Petra looked surprised by their obliviousness.

"Do you not know? Edelgard had told me once that the professor apparently talked to Sothis before receiving her powers."

They didn't, although they weren't exactly surprised after all that had happened already. Slowly, ideas popped into their heads, and a plan to possibly make use of that connection was devised, even if it was just a long shot. Every opportunity was one that had to be taken.

Now they only needed someone to play the main role to set everything up.

This was Annette's time to shine. Finally, she felt, something productive to help the team was within her range of abilities. Clenching her fist, she slowly raised her arm.

"I'll do it," Flayn suddenly spoke up, making the ginger girl's heart sink. "My chances are the best."

Everyone approved of it. So they didn't have any use for Annette after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, first of all:  
> HOLY FUCK I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG, I REALLY SHOULD'VE WRITTEN SOMETHING EARLIER
> 
> Second, I really hope there are some of you left who will still read and enjoy this chapter, and if you do, feel free to leave a comment below! If necessary, annoy me into writing another chapter in case I'll just slack off again


	10. A Conversation of Corpses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He will sort this shit out and if it's the last thing he does.
> 
> aka Someone Told Jeralt

"I hope we can all be professional about the fact we all killed each other a few times."

No, that probably wasn't the best way to start this meeting.

Claude was searching for something more fitting while simultaneously asking himself how this happened. It wasn't like he was opposed to a meeting between the house leaders, in fact he had been thinking about how to initiate one, but Jeralt practically grabbing them and shoving them into his room was certainly an unexpected turn of events.

But he had to admit, after Hubert and Dedue naturally joined their lords to help them, he had to suppress a laugh of relief when Hilda was thrown to him. Even if she looked like she wouldn't care much if he was killed right before her eyes, he knew he could trust her after all that they'd been through together.

Now if only he could manage to extend that trust to at least Dimitri and Edelgard, and they to let him in.

Claude was very well aware neither of the two were truly bad people. Their goals, at least, were respectable, except for the crown prince wanting to brutally murder his step-sister. Methods, however, were another thing, a thing he knew he wasn't one to be judging, but from all the experience he had fighting in the war, Edelgard seemed significantly further away - possibly even out of his reach.

Glancing to Dimitri who was very much struggling to suppress his inner demons, then to Edelgard whose usual mask couldn't hide the emptiness inside her eyes, he let out an inner sigh. Some way to initiate a conversation was normally something her could think of in the fraction of a second, but under these circumstances, all his ideas would just end with someone dead.

"Well, what are you waiting for, brats?" Jeralt suddenly began. "If you wanna talk things over, now's your chance to do so."

His talking was stiffer than in the past, and his attempts to leave behind a similar expression to the old Jeralt fell flat on their faces.

Dedue and Hubert looked at him as though he just stabbed Rhea. Which challenged Claude to keep his poker face on, as the pure disbelief was nothing short of hilarious.

"How dare you speak of-"

That's as far as the two retainers got before realizing they spoke simultaneously.

They looked at each other.

Then back to Jeralt, who was clearly trying his damn best not to burst out laughing.

It was so unfitting to the situation to laugh, but Hilda completely let loose, to the point of sounding like a horse trying to bark with the voice of a wyvern. A big part of this was probably to just let all the emotions out, as the tears in her eyes didn't seem to come from a positive place, but it certainly helped in easing the tension, as Jeralt and Claude himself weren't able to hold themselves back anymore.

It felt weird after all that had happened in such a short amount of time. Almost like he had forgotten how to do it and was now learning it anew. And he was pretty sure he wasn’t alone with that, looking at Dimitri and Edelgard’s faces. The former’s corner of his mouth twitched a bit, and though the latter didn’t show any sign of laughing, she did prevent Hubert from murdering everyone in this room, slightly waving her hand to stop him.

Hilda seemed pretty close to dying on her own anyway with how heavily she was wheezing.

“That’s certainly a way to start,” Jeralt got out, a sullen smile on his face, but a smile nonetheless. “Well then. I believe you all know what happened to the students here yourself.”

Everyone gave a small nod while Claude’s pink-haired companion was wiping the tears from her face.

“Good. While I personally didn’t experience any of this, a little birdie told me a few things about the events surrounding it. I think the key point is a certain war that happened over and over again.” His voice suddenly got a bit more aggressive. “And that it may have been the reason for my kid snapping.”

Claude couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for her when Edelgard winced. However, the princess then answered Jeralt’s questioning gaze with her eyes that had long lost their lilac, and took a deep breath.

“That is indeed highly likely. And I was the one to start the war every time.”

Silence. Nobody moved an inch, but it was clear Edelgard was pretty much expecting a sword to be shoved down her throat at any moment. When nothing of the sort happened, she continued.

“I will not ask for forgiveness, as I still believe I was doing the right thing. Byleth supported me multiple times, as with the others, and every time they fought and won by my side, I managed to create the world I was and still am hoping for.”

Then the white-haired girl deflated just enough for Claude to take note of it.

“However, looking at how I only ever succeeded with them on my side and their state at the moment, I…” She didn’t finish the thought. “In any case, if you are out for revenge, you may take it. It is too late for me.”

Hubert grimaced and held his hand before her protectively, but nobody was attacking her anyway (though Dimitri was clearly very close).

“I… I see then.” Edelgard stood up. “Then I’ll ask Byleth to do it. It’s better to die at the hands of a beloved anyway.”

Jeralt stepped in front of the door. “Oh no you don’t.”

Claude and Dimitri quickly let their retainers restrain Hubert, while Jeralt easily blocked a blow from their fellow house leader.

“Your movement looks like your mind is far ahead of your body. Probably because of all this time travel stuff.”

Shoving her back into her seat, he slammed his hands on the table.

“And now I want to know everything. Don’t you dare leave anything out.”

Claude grinned nervously. This conversation really became a battle of the minds, and challenging Edelgard was going to make him make use of all the tactics he could think of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor... well, poor everyone if you think about it.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! All over the monastery, plans to fix this are set in motion, but it's hard to say whether any of them will succeed.
> 
> Leave a comment below if you liked it and see you in the next one.


	11. Drop Dead.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And you thought it couldn't get much worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again a slightly longer chapter compared to the other ones. It's still far from my standards in my first language, but for being in English, I'm pretty proud of this one.

The Knights of Seiros finally regained their conscience.

Manuela sighed and let herself fall back in a chair, exhausted from constantly caring for her colleagues. They had taken a while longer to wake up from their sleep, whatever they cause for that may have been.

Catherine, of course, immediately shot up and reached for the sheath of her Heroes’ Relic, but as Manuela may be drunk sometimes, but never outright stupid, it wasn’t there. Shamir, being more level-headed as usual, grabbed her partner’s hand to prevent her from going mayhem on the infirmary.

Alois and Gilbert sat up as well, the former staring out of the window with a deeply troubled expression telling the songstress he was still processing everything, while the latter was pretty much just his usual gloomy self.

“That dastard…” Catherine mumbled. “They killed everyone… betrayed Lady Rhea… destroyed everything we love…”

She stood up, and although her strides were a bit wobbly, determination allowed her to stand before Manuela intimidatingly and to demand to know where her sword was. Manuela sighed, clearly frustrated.

“You’re just going to end up right here again, with your arms and legs broken, at the bare minimum. Even with Thunderbrand…”

“I can’t forgive them,” the warrior lady snarled. “They have been toying with us for far too long.”

“What do you mean, toying with us?! Even you should understand that Byleth has been searching for a way to save everybody this whole time!”

“Bullshit! You of all people should know best what pain they have inflicted on all of us!”

“But that’s-“

“Manuela,” Shamir began, suddenly standing right next to them. She turned to her furiously.

“What?!”

Shamir leaned in a bit to whisper “This is the closest to crying I’ve seen Catherine in a long time. She doesn’t show it, but she knows very well that Byleth isn’t pure evil. We all have spent the rest of some of our past lives with them after the war.”

The professor couldn’t really tell that Catherine was any closer to crying than normally, but if she could trust anyone on this, it was Shamir. After a brief moment, she sighed and tried calming down.

“Okay. Okay. We’re all friends here.” Another deep breath, in and out.

“Good. I’m fine. Now what? I still think just going on a suicide mission is a stupid idea.”

Alois opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Manuela could feel being pulled back by something that was seemingly grabbing the core of her entire being, and in a flashing of colors, the world shattered and put itself back together again, the sun now having gone back on it’s cycle a bit.

She sighed. These time powers of theirs would take some getting used to, but at least she still knew what she had been doing before the turnback, as she named it. The others were a bit surprised, except Shamir of course, but quickly pulled themselves back together.

“If we do anything as a group, I think we should talk to Captain Jeralt first,” Alois said. “Especially as it’s about his kid…”

That was at least something they could agree on doing before developing their own plans.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Having not found him on the upper floor, the five made their way down the stairs, before Shamir suddenly gave a signal to stop.

“Byleth is on the bridge to the cathedral with some students and Flayn,” she whispered and concealed her presence to watch what was happening from a bit closer. Manuela, Catherine and Alois hid themselves and looked on from afar, while Gilbert, disinterested and grieving as usual, stood watch for any people that would look irritated by the suspicious activity going on.

The mercenary was talking to Seteth’s adorable little sister, seemingly having a bit of a headache as they held their forehead and their head moved a bit weirdly, almost like following something they had their eyes on, even though Manuela couldn’t see anything there. Flayn sped up her speech and talked to Byleth for a long moment, until they sighed and rolled their eyes at nothing.

Annette now jumped in to help, starting her own barrage of words.

Then Byleth rammed their sword through her neck.

Manuela felt sick.

Catherine took only a moment to regain her senses and started rushing in, Shamir not holding her back this time, but supporting her assault with bow and arrow. However, Byleth didn’t seem too surprised and easily evaded the quick slashes of the swordswoman without so much as a scratch while simultaneously using their sword to cut the oncoming arrows apart in the air, not even looking at them.

Suddenly, they got an opening, ducked and swept Catherine off her feet with their leg just to immediately follow up with a kick to the stomach which send her flying, only being able to grab the bridge’s edge by luck. This didn’t throw them off in the least; with unfiltered, raw strength, they punched the railing so hard it cracked and fell off, dragging Catherine into the deep chasm with it.

“Catherine!” Shamir shouted, her calm demeanor just barely holding up. Even after all the times she had killed this woman, she still felt indescribable pain when her dear partner fell in combat.

Byleth didn’t seem to care at all. They simply stood still for a moment, before their face slowly twisted in confusion. While Manuela ran to Annette, she could see how the stone-cold mask broke and more and more rage, hatred, and horror filled their expression.

Then Seteth came down the stairs. “Excuse me, have any of you seen my dear-“

“You did this!” Byleth screamed, their voice echoing throughout the vicinity, sending hot and cold shivers through the songstress. They pointed their sword at Flayn, who already had been in tears at the hands of Annette’s fatal wounding, and she could only turn her reddened eyes to Byleth with a heart-crushing sob.

“Because of you…” They seethed with anger, veins showing more and more clearly on their limbs, as they prepared to split the Nabatean girl’s skull. “Catherine and Annette are truly dead!”

Their sword strike was barely blocked by a javelin flying right between them and Flayn, as Seteth came running.

“Everyone, run! I’ll handle them!”

Shamir reacted quickly, helping the children stunned in fear get back on their feet. Flayn, however, still couldn’t move, her eyes staring into nothingness while she was whispering “It’s not my fault… not my… fault…” to herself. Manuela managed to pick her up and put her on her back, dashing off and sending a silent prayer to let everything somehow turn out fine.

“I’m truly sorry, Jeralt,” Seteth muttered before whistling sharply. A loud crushing noise came from the stables and the green-haired man’s wyvern came flying, catching him as he jumped off the bridge into it’s saddle. He readied his spear. “I have to do this.”

Byleth desperately tried putting the bland mask back on while getting out all their weapons. Then, they too whistled loudly, resulting in three wyverns and two pegasi showing up.

Seteth clenched his teeth. “Not going to make this easy for me, huh,” he said. “Bring it on!”

Byleth listened, jumping on one of the pegasi and reading their bow, nocking an arrow. For a moment, everything appeared to stand still.

Then, the barrage of arrows started. Of course, the mercenary was as skilled in archery as one could be, but the Nabateans long life still let him manage through the rapid fire fairly well, with only a few arrows scathing him and just a single one actually landing and lodging itself into his left arm. He howled in pain, but just approached more quickly, until he was close enough to attack the new professor with the Spear of Assal. 

They barely evaded, now taking out their axe to swing at their opponent, who skillfully maneuvered the wyvern just enough to not get hit, while piercing the pegasus’ chest. Byleth was able to jump to one of their wyverns just in time, but Seteth was prepared, already bringing it down, forcing them to switch mounts yet again. This time, they fired an arrow in their fall, which was unexpected enough to hit his wyvern, which growled deeply, clearly in great pain, but still holding on.

He rushed them down, throwing a javelin at the last pegasus while cutting the head of the one they were riding on off, but against what he hoped, they still saved themselves onto their last mount, now flying right up to the archbishop’s advisor in preparation of the final strike. He accepted that and signaled his wyvern to do the same.

As the two came closer and closer, they both readied their weapons and took a swing to maximize power.

A massive clashing of metal was heard when the two finally collided. Then, both of their wyverns started falling, dragging their riders with them.

“Looks like it’s a draw,” Seteth muttered. “Flayn… I’m sorry.”

Byleth somehow managed to claw themselves out of the saddle and used their dead companion as a simple launching pad, piercing the man’s heart with their sword.

“I win.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this certainly happened.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you didn't, hey, that's fair, not everyone's an emotional masochist.
> 
> Leave a comment as usual and have a great day!


	12. To Slay A Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past is fully gone now. Time to move on.

He was so, so tired.

Getting any information out of Edelgard was like fighting Nemesis with all of his Ten Elites still kicking. Even after putting everything Claude had already figured out on the table, she wouldn’t budge one bit.

Dimitri didn’t make it any easier, as he didn’t provide any additional context, being too busy not smashing the house leader’s head in. A shame, really, as Claude felt with that bit of extra knowledge, he would’ve had the girl all figured out.

And then there came the screams.

In the middle of the very civil discussion, terror broke out in the monastery. People were killed, they said. The professor finally snapped, they said. It was Flayn’s fault, they said.

As they found out, Byleth had suddenly killed Annette when she and a handful of other students tried persuading them with words. After that, hell broke loose, and in the process of the battle, Catherine fell to her death, and Seteth fought the ex-mercenary until both of them dropped from the sky.

His mind already taking in everything he heard, Claude deducted that Flayn tried speaking to the goddess within Byleth, and as a result, they had lost the power of the Divine Pulse, which is why they accused the small Nabatean girl to be at fault for the ultimate untimely demise of her friends.

A funeral was held.

Dimitri’s hands seemed so unusually weak as he softly cradled Annette’s body in his arms before putting it in the coffin with Mercedes’ help, whose eyes were hard to look at with how red they were. Catherine and Seteth’s corpses were already locked away from the world, as their fall damaged them almost beyond recognition.

Now Rhea was under heavy critique, Flayn was driving herself mad with grief and would never stop whispering how it was definitely not her fault, Dimitri was at the point of going on a suicide mission to kill Byleth, and Jeralt and Edelgard had disappeared.

Of course, there were all kinds of rumors going around now. The professor truly becoming a second Nemesis, Edelgard having gone to the Slitherers to find a new plan to take out Rhea in her weakened position, Jeralt having committed suicide in shame.

The one always catching his attention though was about Edelgard joining forces with the professor, whatever the goal in that may be. Considering they had always been her anchor from what Claude could recall, it seemed like a plausible theory.

But what could their goal be? After all, the white-haired girl hadn’t exactly been very active towards any goal in this particular run so far.

Whatever it was, he was going to find out.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

“They’re heading east. Do you see them?”

“Very clearly. It’s route B.”

“Good. Give Bernadetta the signal.”

As planned, Lorenz waved his hands up and down two times. Then he sighed.

“It’s hard to believe I would ever need to resort to such measures. This is something befitting of a thief, not a noble.”

“Leave poor Ashe alone,” Ingrid replied. “Without him, we wouldn’t know what to do at all.”

The purple-haired boy scoffed. “Why, my plan was vastly superior! I cannot fathom why you chose to go with this disgraceful option.”

Ignatz smiled awkwardly, not sure of what to reply to that. The so-called superior plan was just to stand in the middle of the road Byleth and Edelgard were traveling on and demanding to know what their intention was. “I just hope the professor didn’t notice you on the Pegasus flying above them, Ingrid.”

“I hope the same, but after removing all the gear, it should be fine. Now it’s up to the other team.”

After the scouting team had sent the signal, which Dorothea then repeated for the stealth team, they had to find a good place to spy on their targets. Along each of the three possible paths, one of their group was positioned; Ashe, who had experience with being stealthy and other thievy things, Bernadetta, a true talent at hiding out of sight and listening for even the slightest sounds, and Cyril, who they had trained to be able to read people’s lips paired with his amazing eyesight.

“I hope she can pull this off,” Dorothea whispered to herself.

Ashe and Cyril made their way back to the scouts in secret, while the two travelers came up to the recluse’s spot, and everyone quietly chanted for her to succeed (even Lorenz, though he immediately stopped when realizing what kind of behavior he was endorsing).

Not that long after, an exhausted and white as a bone purple-haired girl ran up to them, clearly in distress over what she’d heard. Dorothea wasted no time in hugging her to calm her down, as she slowly caught her breath.

“I-” she started, just to interrupt herself by coughing roughly. Her commoner friend still held her hand on Bernadetta’s back, looking at her worriedly.

“I didn’t hear much, because they rarely even exchanged words. But from what they’ve said...” She shuddered. “They’re planning to kill the Goddess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By now, I've got a rough outline on how Part 1 of this fic will go (and yes, it will be split in two parts), but I don't know how long it will take to get through all of this. I'm excited to write all of it, though I won't write all the time, as I don't want to burn myself out. Still, I hope you look forward to it and enjoy this in the meantime.
> 
> For now, leave a comment below and see you in the next chapter!


	13. A Certain Kind of Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just because you're allies, doesn't mean you like each other.

She couldn’t remember the last time she felt like this.

The feeling was still very familiar to her, although she would never admit it to herself. This was something she was always told she should not be having, and yet, here she was.

She was scared.

From birth, her parents always drilled everything to know about this world into her head, worried that she wouldn’t be able to survive out there. That was what they were doing, right? It must’ve been their way of showing affection.

That’s why she trusted them. They told her of negative and positive emotions, of grief and happiness. And that she should lock the negative ones away, to never be hurt. After all, what good should something do that makes your conviction waver, your grip loosen, your concentration disappear?

Exactly. She shouldn’t be feeling anything like this. She remembered how she was taught about the most important thing of all: fun. The ultimate positive emotion, her parents called it. So when she was prepared, they gave her a dagger and led her to the prison, where a lowly beast had been locked up, and she was to kill it.

To make them proud was her only goal. So on her sixth birthday, she made her first murder.

Back then, that new, unfamiliar feeling overwhelmed her, and she threw up on the fresh corpse. That feeling, her parents said, was fun. Something to strive for, no matter where or when. And they looked proud, oh, so proud of her, so she believed them.

The last thing they ever said to her was to be careful with it, as the feeling could corrupt you, no matter how great it may be.

The next day, she was ordered to kill them.

Oh, right. That was the last time she felt afraid.

All this time, she was grateful for this catharsis, as her parents had once called it. She knew they had to do the same thing to become the great people they were.

But now her world was turned upside down, and her head was aching from confusion and fear. This was how they all were raised, and they were the highest beings after all, right? This had to be the only way to get strong, right?

So how could she lose to some random mercenary and the weak little princess of Adrestia?

Kronya grit her teeth and jumped on her feet, swallowing some bile that had slowly made it’s way up her throat. Solon had ordered her to defend Shambala until the weapons were ready to annihilate the invaders, so she would do just that. After all, this was a chance to kill, which meant fun.

She readied her weapon and sprinted towards them in a slight curve, her free hand throwing a few daggers at her opponents, none of which bypassed their defenses. Edelgard didn’t even do that much, her companion just waved their blade a bit. If her underling was that powerful, what strength would possibly be hidden in that small girl’s body?

Aware of herself getting desperate, the Agarthan tried calming down a bit as she slashed at them, but it was too late. With just two small, but fluid and precise motions, she was disarmed and had a blade against her neck.

There was that feeling again. She didn’t want to die. Not yet. Not here, and especially not against these damned creatures. What was taking Solon so long? Why wasn’t he coming to save her?

“Waiting for your friend, huh?”

The mercenary’s voice echoed throughout the halls, void of any emotion. Except for maybe Thales, any Agarthan would be jealous of the sheer numbness in it’s tone. Suddenly, when they laid their hand on her forehead, a sharp pain stung through her mind, making her flinch.

They looked disappointed and took their hand away.

“We still have use of you, so you’ll be coming with us. But if you do anything suspicious, you’re dead.”

With how empty they sounded, it was all the more convincing. Kronya weighed her chances, but even she realized that this was a foe she couldn’t win against, no matter the tricks she pulled.

“We’re not here to destroy you anyway. We just want to make a deal.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The monastery just couldn’t catch a break, it seems.

After hearing of what the group spying on Byleth had found out (and from Lorenz of all people, which he wasn’t happy about), a new plan was needed, and considering the events were now happening on Alliance territory, Claude was pretty sure this was his responsibility anyway.

Now he just needed to build a team to help him, and that was going to be pretty interesting, considering the state everyone was in.

Either way, it was now or never to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason, I really like Kronya, so I wanted to expand on her character. Hope you like my take on her backstory!
> 
> As usual, leave a comment to keep me motivated and see you in the next one.


	14. Time's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set them on fire, shut them away. You need to kill your feelings.

“So, what kind of plan does the great ‘Master Tactician‘ have in store?“

“I’ll figure that out depending on whom we have available.”

“Pathetic. You really think you can even build a team with something as weak as that?”

Claude let out a mighty groan inside his head. Felix was a douche, but he rarely ever missed the mark on things like this, and honestly, he expected this reaction. He just didn’t have time.

Convincing people to try to catch Byleth with him was very difficult. Some were afraid of the might of the Ashen Demon, others couldn’t bring themselves to possibly harm them, even after they’d killed Annette, Seteth, and Catherine. For most, it was a mix of the two, and Flayn was still in a traumatized state from the events a few days prior.

However, in his search for people to fight at his side, Claude had observed a certain pattern.

The students who overcame deeply seated trauma through Byleth’s guidance were far more active and eager to help than the ones who became even more broken through the war. And it held true for the most part, but it wasn’t enough. He had to devise a better plan for recruitment.

Luckily, his chance came when Edelgard returned to the monastery.

Alone.

Well, he had to wait for Hubert to finish chastising her for leaving without him first.

And then they had to hold Dimitri down so he wouldn’t crush her throat while threatening her to do what he would already be doing if she didn’t talk about what Byleth was up to.

Anyway, Claude’s chance came. And though he really wanted Dimitri to participate in the talk, he just wasn’t in the right state of mind to not kill anyone in there.

He also took this opportunity to initiate a conversation without anyone else, just him and Edelgard. Hubert was against this, of course, but he begrudgingly accepted after being allowed to check Claude for any hidden weapons, which he followed through with, even after Claude’s comment of ‘it’s so embarrassing feeling your strong hands wander over my body’ made his face twist into an expression of pure disgust.

He also checked whether Claude could use magic and deducted that no one could possibly be so bad on purpose. Rude.

And then the time had come to talk to Edelgard. Again. But this time, he came prepared.

“So, let me ask something first. You probably won’t give me an answer if I just outright ask you what Teach is doing, right?”

She just nodded.

“Thought so. Well, you leave me no choice.”

He showed his fake smile as she raised an eyebrow.

“A little birdie told me a secret… It’s about your white hair.”

That certainly got her attention. She didn’t flinch, which was quite impressive, but said something to him for the first time in a while.

“I thought your time with Byleth taught you not to use such underhanded tactics.”

“Drastic times, my friend, drastic times”, he simply replied, not letting go of the grin on his face.

“Claude, what makes you think we are friends?”

“If I have to work together with someone, which I do now, I think friend is a nice word to secure oneself. I’m not here to just blackmail you, after all. I want to make a deal.”

\----------------------------------------------------------

“You fool…”

Sothis clenched her teeth as she looked down onto Byleth from her throne.

“This is why I told you to stop rewinding time… It only drives one mad.”

Silence.

The human warrior unsheathed their sword, pointing it at the goddess it was made from. In the eternal darkness, the faint orange glow gave the situation an even more eerie feeling.

“And you really do think you can beat me… How do you plan on doing this?”

Byleth pointed to her side. Before she could even turn her head, limbs made of pure black grabbed her and tried to hold her still, but she almost immediately freed herself again, blasting them with a pure energy burst.

“That was a pathetic attempt.”

They shook their head.

“It’s all I need.”

Sothis cringed at hearing the voice of her partner so hollow. She tried to play strong, but she knew this was a battle she could at best end in a draw. A single tear quietly made it’s way down her face as she floated down the stairs and landed a few meters in front of them.

“Byleth”, she whispered. “You’re better than this.”

“Be quiet.”

With that, all the hope she had left was finally gone. This was it.

“I’m sorry”, she said.

“I’m sorry too”, they replied.

The time for words was over.

Now was the time to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I can get updates out more frequently... I feel bad giving you guys so little with how short the chapters are.
> 
> Anyway, what would happen if Enlightened Byleth tried rewinding time to before the were imprisoned in Zahras? Just something I wondered when writing this chapter. Any ideas?
> 
> See you next time!


	15. Breaking Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How could innocence ever be a crime?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Dimitri felt so very lost.

Right now, Claude was talking to Edelgard about who-knows-what. He wanted to be with them so badly, but knew exactly that it wouldn’t do his state of mind any favors. Especially after Claude told him a theory he had.

The prince did wonder whether Edelgard’s hair changed its color for a long time now, but never payed too much attention to it.

That had been a mistake.

After learning what was behind Lysithea’s white hair, a lot of things started to make much more sense.

Especially the grotesque form he knew as Hegemon Edelgard.

Just thinking of it made his blood boil, but whether the rage was directed at his stepsister for her secrecy or the mysterious force behind the blood experiments, he didn’t know. Maybe those traumatic days were the reason why she didn’t seem to remember him in past timelines until the very last moment.

And then it had been far too late.

His breathing became faster and more ragged as he recalled all the times he pierced her heart with Areadbhar or Aymr crushed his skull into pieces. It seemed as though they could never live together, even if it was all he wanted.

Trying to calm down, Dimitri stood up from his desk and paced back and forth, trying to piece everything together. Recalling their time in Fhirdiad, the Insurrection of the Seven, her siblings all dying mysteriously, their meeting at Garreg Mach after all this time, her behavior as though she had never even heard of him before, the transformation into a mere husk, a picture started to form in his mind.

He still didn’t quite understand her actions as the Flame Emperor and the ruler of Adrestia though. As much as he wanted to believe she had been forced into this role, disregarding the determination in her eyes was simply impossible. Edelgard – El – had truly believed she was in the right.

However, he now understood something new.

Whenever the professor was by her side, she allowed herself to become a bit more open with her feelings. Usually she became stone cold, not a single emotion escaping the heart she had locked up herself. But when he fought her on the Tailtean plains, there was a flickering warmth within her eyes. He couldn’t see it back then being blinded by rage and hatred, however the present was different.

She hated war with her entire being.

Dimitri wanted to punch himself for not realizing all of this. They could have reached a peaceful solution a long, long time ago, if his mask of innocence and naivety his psyche build to protect itself didn’t obstruct his view on the world so much.

This time would be different, he told himself. All this had taught him that it wasn’t the time to be dwelling on the past, it was the time to act.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Claude couldn’t help but burst out laughing when he saw Dimitri being locked up in a cell with heavy iron chain tying him down. All the stress of dealing with the little imperial princess suddenly fell of his shoulders. He wiped away a few tears, trying to not humiliate the already very red royal any further.

“Gods, Dimitri, sometimes I just wanna hug you.”

“Please don’t make this any worse than it has to be.”

Claude grinned. It felt good seeing the murder machine as a normal human – a human who had the amazing idea to lock himself up so he wouldn’t accidentally kill his sister when talking to her.

“I’m sure Edelgard would enjoy this, but she’s busy with dealing with Lonato right now.” His smile slowly faded. “I guess she’s just following Rhea’s orders for now. I wonder where this’ll lead to. How’s Ashe dealing with this?”

The princeling kept staring at the cold, hard ground before him.

“Not very good. As bad as it sounds, I hoped it would be easier for him since he knew it was coming, but the atmosphere was already pretty dark after Annette- well, you know.”

Scratching his head in thought, Claude nodded.

“It’s rough for all of us right now. Heck, I’m even feeling a bit sorry for Rhea right now. She must be absolutely destroyed after losing both Seteth and Catherine as well as a student. And Annette always was so upbeat…”

Silence. Both of them had their gazes locked to the ground, as if they hoped their lost friend would rise from it again.

After another couple of uncomfortably silent moments, the Almyran sighed, clenching his fist. “Agh, damn it all. I really hope the others are fine, I don’t want to lose anyone else. That includes you and Edelgard as well”, he added, intently looking into Dimitri’s eyes. “I’ll bring her here as soon as she returns.”

Just when he reached for the door to leave, a sudden pain rang sharp through his mind. He shot back a few steps, looking at the self-imprisoned house leader, who also seemed to have felt it. For a moment, everything stayed still, before time itself twisted up. Claude could feel memories switching places, breaking and coming back together, while trying to move sometimes was impossible, other times it did the reverse of what he was trying to do, or he suddenly was moving at inhuman speeds.

His mind was racing with even a bit of fear overtaking him. From what was happening, there was only one possible reason.

Time was starting to break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.
> 
> That took a loooooooong ass time, huh?
> 
> Sorry for not posting anything for a month. I'm not quite sure what the reason is myself.
> 
> However, I do fully intend to write this fic to the end, even if it takes me a while. So please bear with me.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I realized it needed some more Dima action. If you had fun, please leave a comment and I hope to see you in the next one!


	16. The Haunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time tries to return to its original form, but some things change nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavy trigger warning, as this chapter is a mess of violence, vomit, and depression.

When Dimitri regained his conscience, he was standing over someone’s body.

His vision blurry, he held a hand against his aching head as a memory rush shot through him. The last thing he could remember was talking to Claude in the prison below the monastery, before time itself began twisting around.

Then there was a cut.

Without anything in between, he was out of the cell, instead following his usual routine from previous timelines like nothing had ever happened. He didn’t remember ever consciously doing that, in addition to not seeing these memories from his own perspective – it was more like someone else’s memories were implanted in his brain.

The prince’s eyes looked empty, no soul behind them or his actions. He acted like a good little sheep in the hands of something bigger than himself. Panicking, he skipped through these memories to see how long it had been since he was in control.

He could see himself avoiding the Death Knight in the Holy Mausoleum, the casket in the back being completely empty when the mage opened it. No Sword of the Creator, not anything else, before his lance pierced the enemy’s commander, ending the battle.

He remembered the Golden Deer returning with the Lance of Ruin in Claude’s hands, Sylvain gritting his teeth next to Dimitri and clenching his fists so hard his nails almost drew blood. The Heroes’ Relic was returned to the Gautier house and Rhea was there, looking pleased with the whole world, despite Seteth not being by her side. It was like he had never even existed.

Then, the Black Eagles rescued Flayn from the Death Knight, encountering the Flame Emperor. They acted like they didn’t know who it was – and they probably truly didn’t at that point, as no one was themselves anymore. Flayn joined their class afterwards, and they even held the fishing tournament, with the sweet little girl happy beyond measure, even though her brother had died.

Right now, they were fighting the Battle of the Eagle and Lion on Gronder Field, Dimitri realized. They had lost much time, but it wasn’t too late yet.

His vision finally cleared, though in the next moment, he wished it hadn’t.

He was holding a bloodied steel lance, and the body beneath his feet was a corpse. He was so scared of looking, scared of his gaze falling on a familiar face that would break him to pieces with it’s lifeless stare, accusing their murderer silently before joining all the ghosts that haunted him already. Trembling, he forced himself to look. He had to. He owed it to the victim – to everyone.

Their face didn’t exist anymore.

Looking down further, he recognized Petra’s toned skin, dirtied by a vomit-inducing amount of blood splattered all over her from the deep wound in her neck, where his lance had pierced through flesh and bones cleanly. Her skull and left-over part of her brain and eyes being scattered around on the wooden floor surrounding the ballista at the center of the field seemed to be the result of some sort of magical explosion.

He stumbled backwards, bile building up in his throat and a wave of nausea hitting him. Slowly, everywhere around him, he could hear desperate, confused, haunting screams building up, as his family whispered more cruelties into his ears.

“Well done.”

“This is what you have to do to all of them.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Now rip open her stomach and tear apart her intestines.”

“Crush them.”

“Stab them.”

“Turn them into a bloody pulp.”

“Kill them.”

“Kill them.”

“Kill them, kill them, kill them!”

“Kill them all!”

“Rip out their throats and crush their heads!”

“Tear their limbs off their bodies and snap their necks!”

“Feast upon their desecrated flesh like the vile beast you are!”

“Dimitri, my dear son.”

He didn’t dare look up, until a sickly white hand consisting only of skin and bones reached for him and lifted his chin. His father looked at him lovingly, his face slowly becoming more and more warped, his lips twisting into an unnatural smile, eyes fading into black, skin slowly peeling off until all that was left was a skull screaming at him.

“Murder every last one of them!”

He howled in pain and his legs gave out, making him crash to the ground before violently throwing up. Everything burned and he felt his lungs coming apart, the sour stomach acid destroying his throat and all he could do was cry, tears dropping into the pile of vomit at a rapid pace until there was no water left in his eyes, and still, he cried, screaming for a world where he had never been born, if only to flee from this hell people called life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my best.
> 
> If you think the chapter was at the very least well-written, if not otherwise unlikeable, please leave a comment below.


	17. Empty Words, Empty Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Communication is important to any healthy relationship.

Supporting herself with her axe, Edelgard slowly straightened her posture as much as her trembling legs, her unsteady gaze, and the violent burning of stomach acid in her throat allowed her to.

She had already wasted too much time after regaining her conscience. She should have been used to seeing desecrated corpses by now, but waking up triumphantly holding the cleanly cut off head of Lysithea – the only person to ever truly understand what she went through, the person who made her feel like she had a little sister again – in her hands…

She didn’t want to think of it any longer.

Howls of pain ran through the field and her heart she had thought frozen over so long ago ached. Edelgard quietly cursed Claude for almost making her open up and thusly weakened her in these situations, while she made her way to the hill in the middle. Even if she’d rather not see anyone right now, she knew she had a certain duty to fulfill and she had sworn to fulfill it no matter what she must sacrifice, even if it was herself.

When she saw Dimitri clawing at his skin, bloody scratches all over his neck and face, reaching up to tear his eyes out, adrenaline shot through her and she let go of her axe to sprint towards him.

“Dimitri!”

He stopped, haunted eyes darting over the field to find the source of the small noise he had heard through the screams of the ghosts at his side. But she couldn’t seem to find it, restlessly bolting into a standing position, turning around violently in every direction, before stumbling backwards and falling into Edelgard.

She winced when they hit the ground, but immediately grabbed his head to turn it to her. Like that, him laying on his back with his head in her lap while her face hovered over his, it almost looked peaceful for a moment, were it not for the torn-apart bodies covering the hill, making it seem as though the two were the only ones alive sitting on a throne of corpses after a violent war tore everything apart.

In a sense, it wasn’t even wrong.

Dimitri’s eyes still flew around like an animal’s looking for danger, but the cold, dead eyes came back into focus a bit. Edelgard almost teared up at the sight.

“I’m here,” she whispered. “I’m here with you, Dimitri, and I’m alive, and you are too.” She panted heavily, trying to ignore that most of the other’s were dead. Still, all the more reason to bring back the survivors.

The blonde boy calmed down a bit, his eyes no longer absorbing every ray of sunlight hitting them, the freezing gaze at least becoming only cool. When he spoke, his voice was croaked, unsteady, and felt unnatural, like he was a dead man walking.

“Sister?”

Edelgard opened her mouth, then closed it again. She had never given it much thought, but he was right about her being his sister, wasn’t he? So, she didn’t deny it and only continued reassuring him that he was still here.

A short while later, he attempted slowly sitting up, which was when Claude came over as well. He looked about as shaken up as Edelgard herself must’ve looked, concern clearly visible when scanning her and Dimitri. He carefully placed himself next to them.

“So,” he started, but didn’t continue. Dimitri, though clearly unsteady, had managed bringing himself into a mixture between sitting and laying down, the shaking arms barely holding him up.

The silence continued for a while, tension hanging thick in the air between them, awkward stares being exchanged. Finally, Edelgard sighed. She had been prepared to be labeled as the villain before, so if she had to be the one to start talking about the uncomfortable topics, so be it.

“Who survived?” she asked, hoping it would make everything sound a bit better than asking who died.

Claude shook his head. “Not many”, he said. “I had a look around before coming here. The Golden Deer is split in half – Me, Lorenz, Marianne, and Hilda are the only ones left.” He let out a desperate chuckle. “This is the first time I’m happy Hilda never wants to put in work. And with her strength, she at least managed to hold Lorenz back from rushing in immediately and doing something stupid.” He remembered Derdriu being attacked by the Imperial forces and how Hilda died fighting, even though she had always told him she’d never die for anyone and would follow the order to retreat he made.

He drew a shaky breath before continuing. “Teach probably manipulated this, because from what I’ve seen, both of you are only left with half your class too.” Edelgard felt her heart sink beneath her body, buried under the corpses of her allies – her friends. “Linhardt, Bernadetta, and Dorothea for the Black Eagles-“

She could feel the bile rising up again at hearing Hubert, who had been by her side from the beginning until the end in every timeline, the man who had always loved her, was a victim. In the next moment, she beat herself up over forgetting the other classmates of hers that had passed away for a second there. Barely managing to hold everything in, she forced herself to continue listening.

“-and Felix, Mercedes, and Sylvain for the Blue Lions.” Dimitri’s normally unusually strong arms gave in and he fell on his back hard, deflating and letting silent tears roll down his face. His eyes were starting to look haunted again, but before Edelgard could attempt to sooth him despite her own pain, a sharp voice cut through the air between the three.

“What in the name of Sothis is going on here?!” Rhea screamed in a tone so very unfitting to the archbishop, violently stomping on the ground while she made her way to the center of the battlefield.

“Oh shit,” Claude mouthed, and for once in their many lives, Edelgard found herself agreeing with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry it wasn't that overwhelming, but I work at a school, and though there aren't any pupils around, I still gotta come to work and it's kinda draining. Though I should be at home more permanently soon, which (I hope) means more content for you!
> 
> Also, if you enjoy my story, please check out my other work, The Eisner Family! It's a slightly different flavor, but I still think it's worth giving it a shot.
> 
> Leave a comment below and see you next time!


End file.
